The second Goss.ie Women of the Year Awards will take place on Sunday, October 1st, at The Royal Marine Hotel in Dun Laoghaire, with well-known broadcaster and entrepreneur Gráinne Seoige as host.
The star-studded event will honour women across multiple genres, including business, sports, the arts, social justice and more.
We have also launched two people’s choice awards, including a ‘Local Hero’ category, where Goss.ie readers can nominate local women in their area who have contributed to their communities; as well as ‘Local Businesswoman’ where readers can vote for women in business in their locality.
This year the awards are in partnership with Google, Catrice Cosmetics, Gym Plus, Local Enterprise Office and Xin Gin.
Women’s Aid is our official charity partner for 2023 once again, and we will also be running a charity raffle on the day to raise funds for the charity.
Our highly-esteemed and all-female judging panel will decide the winners of each category.
The Rising Star category shines a light on inspiring women who are making an impact in their respective industries at an early stage.
Whether they’re impressing sports fans on the pitch, dazzling audiences on stage, or making a difference in med tech, these women are definitely ones to watch.
Take a look at this year’s nominees:
Sophie O’Sullivan
Sophie O’Sullivan, daughter of Olympian Sonia O’Sullivan, is an athlete specialising in the 1500 metres.
In July, the 21-year-old won gold in her specialised event at the 2023 European Athletics U23 Championships in Finland.
The following month, she competed in the heats of the Women’s 1500 metres at the 2023 World Athletics Championships.
Sophie improved her personal best to 4.02.15 – which is impressively quicker than the qualifying standard for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Elizabeth Ndudi
Elizabeth Ndudi is a track and field athlete, specialising in the long jump event.
In August, Elizabeth became Ireland’s first-ever gold medalist at the European Under-20 Championships.
The athlete won her specialised event, with her jump of 6.56m becoming a new Irish under-20 record.
The 18-year-old now holds the second longest Irish jump, behind Kelly Proper.
Abbie Larkin
Abbie Larkin has become a notable name in the Irish sporting landscape.
At just nine years old, the Dublin native was accepted into The Metropolitan Girls League Academy, two years earlier than the general admission age of 11.
The footballer played at youth level for Home Farm before she was signed by Shelbourne FC in 2021.
The following year, Abbie made the move to Shamrock Rovers.
In 2023, the 18-year-old was the youngest member of the squad who represented the Republic of Ireland at the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Nell Mescal
Nell Mescal is an up and coming indie-folk singer.
The Maynooth native released her debut single Graduating in July 2022, and has released three others since.
Over the past twelve months, the 20-year-old has supported huge artists – including P!nk at Hyde Park, Florence & The Machine, and Dermot Kennedy.
Nell recently performed at Electric Picnic 2023, and has just released her new single Teeth.
Niamh Donnelly
Niamh Donnelly is co-founder and Chief Robotics Officer of Akara Robotics, an AI company focused on delivering innovative robotic solutions in healthcare.
The engineer oversees the development of AI and machine learning at Akara Robotics, and played a key role in the development and validation of the company’s ‘Stevie’ robot – which featured on the cover of Time magazine in 2019.
The Dublin native was recognised globally as one of the ‘50 Women In Robotics You Need To Know About’ by Robohub.
Last December, Niamh also won the Rising Innovator Award at the 2022 EU Prize for Women Innovators.
RóisÃn Nà Riain
RóisÃn Nà Riain is making waves as a woman in sport.
At just 16 years old, the para swimmer was the youngest athlete from Ireland to compete at the 2020 Summer Paralympics.
The 18-year-old has enjoyed a decorated career so far, having won bronze in the 100 metre backstroke S13 event at the 2020 World Para Swimming European Open Championships, and won bronze in both the 100m backstroke and 100m butterfly S13 events at the 2022 World Para Swimming Championships.
In July, the Limerick native won silver at the Para Swimming World Championships – qualifying for the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
The following month, RóisÃn won gold at the same competition – becoming the first Irish World Champion in swimming in 10 years.
Audrey Hamilton
Audrey Hamilton’s career took a U-turn for the better.
After being let go from her lead role in a Netflix project, Audrey decided to explore her creative side and began sharing her pop-art online back in 2017.
Having established her online presence over a number of years, the mum-of-one later expanded her brand into clothing, Audrey Hamilton Apparel.
The mum-of-one boasts over 60,000 Instagram followers, and a further 12,000 on her clothing brand’s official Instagram account.
Last summer, the designer opened her own pop-up shop in Powerscourt Shopping Centre.
Katie O’Brien
Katie O’Brien is a para rower, representing Ireland in the PR2 W1x category.
The Galway native, who was born with spina bifida, has undergone multiple surgeries on both her back and left leg – and walks with the aid of just a split.
Since the start of her rowing career back in 2013, Katie has won bronze at the 2019 World Rowing Championships, won gold at the Henley Women’s Regatta and at the Home International Regatta, and won gold in the final of the PR2 single sculls at the 2022 World Rowing Championships.
Last year, the sportswoman made history as part of Ireland’s first competitive para-rowing crew alongside her rowing partner Steven mcGowan.
Earlier this month, the pair qualified for the 2024 Paris Paralympics.
